Trump On Taking Syria’s Oil and, “You Know, the Airport Is Right Nearby”
October 27th, 2019“A very big, very monstrous, very powerful airport, and very expensive airport that was built years ago.”
Ahh, Ye’ Olde Superbase? Is that you?
This is from the old and forgotten depths of Cryptogon’s archives:
What part of Superbase don’t you understand? That’s what people in the business of exploitation and death call a “geostrategic asset.” States don’t give up control of geostrategic assets because a lot of people wear Lick Bush t-shirts and write letters to the editor.
But who knows which superbase? Turns out, the U.S. built multiple superbases in Iraq.
Here’s a helpful search phrase to complete the setting for this Syrian oil heist: CIA created ISIS
And so goes the errrrrl. Again.
Via: NPR – Presidential Speech Transcript – Announcement On Baghdadi’s Death:
Q: Does this give you any pause by your decision to withdraw the troops?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I think it’s great. Look, we don’t want to keep soldiers between Syria and Turkey for the next 200 years. They’ve been fighting for hundreds of years. We’re out. But we are leaving soldiers to secure the oil. And we may have to fight for the oil. It’s okay. Maybe somebody else wants the oil, in which case they have a hell of a fight. But there’s massive amounts of oil.
And we’re securing it for a couple of reasons. Number one, it stops ISIS, because ISIS got tremendous wealth from that oil. We have taken it. It’s secured.
Number two — and again, somebody else may claim it, but either we’ll negotiate a deal with whoever is claiming it, if we think it’s fair, or we will militarily stop them very quickly. We have tremendous power in that part of the world. We have — you know, the airport is right nearby. A very big, very monstrous, very powerful airport, and very expensive airport that was built years ago. We were in there — we’re in that Middle East now for $8 trillion.
Secretive Military Spaceplane Lands in Florida After Record-Long Orbital Flight
October 27th, 2019I’m thinking: Kinetic bombardment. Ground attack capability from orbit; projectiles, accelerated mostly by gravity, maybe launched with a bit of cold gas.
What’s your guess?
Via: Reuters:
The Pentagon’s secretive X-37B spaceplane landed in Florida on Sunday after a record-long orbital flight lasting more than two years, the U.S. Air Force said, capping the latest test mission for an array of military technologies.
The unpiloted X-37B, built by Boeing Co., touched down on an air strip at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 3:51 a.m. ET after spending 780 days orbiting Earth as the Air Force’s fifth flight mission under the Orbital Test Vehicle program, the Air Force said.
The spaceplane, roughly the size of a small bus and sharing many design features with NASA’s Space Shuttle, was sent into orbit in 2017 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, embarking on a mission managed by the Washington-based Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office to conduct various classified technology experiments in a long-duration space environment.
New Zealand Herald’s Mass Lobotomy Media Operation
October 27th, 2019Presenting the most important news in New Zealand, according to this useless rag. Not Photoshopped. Not satire.
The top story, complete with breaking news alert crawler, which interrupted the endless deluge of sportsball top stories: “Outrage after woman seen driving in Auckland with toddler on lap.”
Primitive Technology: A Survivalist’s Guide to Building Tools, Shelters, and More in the Wild
October 27th, 2019My children and I have been watching John’s Primitive Technology channel for years. Highly recommended.
Here’s his new book: Primitive Technology: A Survivalist’s Guide to Building Tools, Shelters, and More in the Wild Hardcover by John Plant.
Putting Federal Debt In Perspective Against Those Responsible In The Future
October 27th, 2019Via: Economica:
Since 2007, US federal debt has risen 150% while annual US births (legal and otherwise) have fallen almost 14%. Said otherwise, over the dozen years since 2007, federal debt has increased by $13.8 trillion while 5.2 million fewer births have occurred over the same period than the Census projected. This is probably worth a little closer look.
…
The then present generation (baby boomers) made a deal with the past generation to sell out the future generation (Millennials). This can be seen in the chart below, showing the debt each child is born shackled with. From $100 thousand in 1970, to $300 thousand in 1980, to $800 thousand in 1990, $2.1 million in 2007…and as of 2019, every child born a citizen of the US (regardless their parents status) is liable for a ludicrous $6.2 million in federal debt. And this is just a fraction of the actual liability that is owed, if even faster rising unfunded liabilities were included.
Skylon’s SABRE Engine Precooler Passes a Big Test
October 27th, 2019Via: Universe Today:
Recently, Reaction Engines passed a major milestone with the development of their SABRE engine. As the company announced earlier this week (on Tues. Oct. 22nd), their engineers conducted a successful test of a vital component – the engine’s heat exchange element (aka. precooler). What’s more, the test involved airflow temperatures equivalent to speeds of Mach 5, which is in the hypersonic range.
Tesla Summon: “A Tragedy Waiting to Happen”
October 27th, 2019The “Summon” feature is cringe inducing. Fully autonomous robotaxis in a year or two?
Via: ZeroHedge:
Seemingly undeterred by disturbing video on social media and a regulator inquiry into the company, Tesla continues to forge forward blindly and recklessly into the realm of autonomy. Most recently, Tesla said on its conference call Wednesday that it is planning a software update to improve its “Smart” Summon feature, according to Consumer Reports.
The update is supposed to go live next week, and it follows our story that the NHTSA was finally investigating the feature. As we noted earlier this month, the NHTSA can exercise its recall authority if it finds an “unreasonable safety risk”.
But while the NHTSA stands idly by, Tesla seems hell-bent on pushing its human beta testing as far as it can go: the company also announced on its conference call this week that “it plans to move forward rapidly with launching other forms of automation”, which Consumer Reports warns could “involve potentially more dangerous driving situations.”
As Secret Pentagon Spending Rises, Defense Firms Cash in
October 27th, 2019Via: Defense One:
The share of Pentagon spending hidden from public view is rising, as are defense contractors’ revenues from it.
The U.S. Defense Department’s overall budget request increased nearly 5 percent from 2019 to 2020, but classified spending rose 6 percent, according to the consulting firm Avascent. It accounts for about $76 billion, or almost 11%, of the $718 billion requested for the current fiscal year.
Californians Brace For 10 Years Of Blackouts
October 27th, 2019Via: ZeroHedge:
With the state of California set to experience the “biggest blackout ever” as a violent windstorm forces local utilities PG&E, Edison and Sempra to shut off power to millions of residents over fears a broken transmission line could trigger another massive fire, resulting in billions in legal costs, a dismal reality is starting to set in: Californians are facing a “decade of darkness” and they are starting to take matters into their own hands by going “off the grid.” Literally.
ISIS Leader Reportedly Killed by U.S. Special Forces
October 26th, 2019Update: Russian Defense Ministry: We Are Unaware of Alleged Assistance in Baghdadi Operation
Via: Reuters:
Russian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday it was not aware of any assistance that Russia had allegedly provided to the U.S. air forces in the operation that targeted Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, state-run RIA news agency reported.
“We are unaware of any alleged assistance to the flying of U.S. aviation into the airspace of the Idlib de-escalation zone during this operation,” Major-General Igor Konashenkov was quoted by RIA as saying.
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Via: Newsweek:
The United States military has conducted a special operations raid targeting one of its most high-value targets, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), Newsweek has learned. President Donald Trump approved the mission nearly a week before it took place.
Amid reports Saturday of U.S. military helicopters over the Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, a senior Pentagon official familiar with the operation and Army official briefed on the matter told Newsweek that Baghdadi was the target of the top-secret operation in the last bastion of the country’s Islamist-dominated opposition, a faction that has clashed with ISIS in recent years.
A U.S. Army official briefed on the results of the operation told Newsweek that Baghdadi was killed in the raid, and the Defense Department told the White House they have “high confidence” that the high-value target killed was Baghdadi, but further verification is pending DNA and biometric testing. The senior Pentagon official said there was a brief firefight when U.S. forces entered the compound in Idlib’s Barisha village and that Baghdadi then killed himself by detonating a suicide vest. Family members were present. According to Pentagon sources, no children were harmed in the raid but two Baghdadi wives were killed after detonating their own explosive vests.
Members of the Joint Special Operations Command’s Delta Team carried out Saturday’s high-level operation after receiving actionable intelligence, according to sources familiar with the operation. The location raided by special operations troops had been under surveillance for some time.
